More than a Traditional Demo, Distributor Reprises Initiative Bringing Vendors Together at EHX to Achieve Seamless Interoperability
Van Nuys, Calif. — March 11, 2008 — Following its highly acclaimed launch at EHX Fall, AVAD LLC, America’s leading distributor of custom home electronics, will again present its “Integration Partner” solutions at EHX Spring. Integrators will see live demos that incorporate different manufacturers’ products working together seamlessly, which they can then confidently and repeatedly offer their clients.
“EHX is the perfect place to showcase our Integration Partner program,” said Bob Gartland, AVAD president. “Today’s integrators need scalable, reliable solutions they can profitably provide to their customers and sell over and over. Continuing to offer only one-off solutions limits a business’s growth and certainly will not provide practical solutions for a broader marketplace. Our presentation on Demo Alley at EHX Fall highlighted real-world scenarios that integrators can easily and successfully employ, and I’m looking forward to a more complete offering at EHX Spring.”
At EHX Fall, AVAD showcased several scenarios incorporating products from NetStreams, RTI, Niles, Escient, Philips and Lutron. Each solution represented different price points and levels of complexity, and all were scalable and repeatable. AVAD will present similar scenarios at EHX Spring.
AVAD’s Integration Partner program creates complete solutions among the company’s roster of home technology manufacturers by having their respective engineering departments work together to provide a robust feature set with seamless interoperability. AVAD accomplished the solutions presented at EHX Fall by seeking and obtaining unprecedented levels of cooperation from a variety of vendors, all of which have gone to great lengths to ensure that their products seamlessly and easily integrate with those by other manufacturers. That cooperation allowed AVAD to create the easy-to-install solutions that were demonstrated for the first time at EHX Fall, and dealers had very positive reactions.
“The Integration Partner program is fantastic. It really helps us discover new ways to sell products. AVAD’s Demo Room allowed us to get relevant information in a short period of time, especially since all the products and people were there in one room,” said Matt Bernath, president of Surreal Systems, a custom home theater entertainment design and installation company based in Anaheim, Calif.
“AVAD’s Integration Partner exhibit at EHX Fall was a good opportunity for us to see some of the products we currently have not been implementing in our installs and speak with the manufacturers and see the products in real world applications,” said Eric Hill, owner of Evolve Sound & Vision, Inc., based in Los Angeles, Calif. “Being able to integrate the systems that we install makes it easier for the consumer to use, which in turn, makes the system more appealing. A system that is easy to use and that can be consistently replicated helps our bottom line. Being able to see other ways of doing that with AVAD is an invaluable resource.”
AVAD is currently the only distributor within the custom installation industry whose network of manufacturers work together to create fully integrated systems and solutions.
In Brief: Release Summary
• Following its highly acclaimed launch at EHX Fall, AVAD LLC, America’s leading distributor of custom home electronics, will again present its “Integration Partner” solutions at EHX Spring.
• Integrators will see live demos that incorporate different manufacturers’ products working together seamlessly, which they can then confidently and repeatedly offer their clients.
• AVAD’s Integration Partner program creates complete solutions among the company’s roster of home technology manufacturers by having their respective engineering departments work together to provide a robust feature set with seamless interoperability.
• AVAD is currently the only distributor within the custom installation industry whose network of manufacturers work together to create fully integrated systems and solutions.
About AVAD, LLC
AVAD, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ingram Micro, Inc., is the most complete home integration solutions provider in the United States. Its in-depth technology offering of the most trusted brands and progressive continuing education programs provide all the support necessary to design and implement complete home electronic systems solutions. AVAD stocks products for home theater, lighting controls, distributed audio/video, central vacuum, and more. AVAD also provides just-in-time delivery from each of its 37 US locations and new Toronto facility.
AVAD is dedicated to dealer education, training and skill advancement, as evidenced by AVAD University’s over 450 online and classroom continuing education classes held each year.
By partnering with CEDIA for key industry training courses such as Installer Level I and II Certification, Designer Boot Camps and Home Theater Workshops, AVAD is unparalleled in its commitment to the betterment of the industry and the dealer’s bottom line.
AVAD exemplifies this concept with the Dealer to Builder (D2B) program, which links highly-trained and qualified members of its 14,000+ dealer corps with homebuilders across the United States to outfit new homes with in-demand, cutting-edge electronic systems.
Product lines that AVAD distributes and supports include: Acme Brackets, APC, Aprilaire, Artison, Atlantic Technology, ATON, Belden, Bose, Carlon ChannelPlus, Chief, Coleman Cable, H-P Products/Dirt Devil Central Vacuum Systems, D-Link, Draper, Dymo/RhinoPRO, Encore!, Escient, Gefen, Goo Systems-Visual Reality, Inc., Harman Kardon, InFocus ScreenPlay, iPort, JVC Professional Products Company, Key Digital, Labor Saving Devices, Lutron, Marantz, Middle Atlantic Products, Inc., Midlite, MuxLab, NetStreams, Niles Audio, OmniMount, OnQ Technologies, OpenHouse, Optoma, Panamax, Panasonic Phones, Peerless, Philips, Polk Audio, PROconnect, ProFlex, RTI, Rockustics, Samsung, Sharp, SharpVision, Spaun USA, Terk, Toshiba, Universal Remote Control, Velodyne and more.
In July 2005, AVAD was acquired by Ingram Micro, Inc., making its parent company the leading distributor for solution providers and custom integrators serving the fast-growing consumer electronics and home automation markets in the United States.
For more information about AVAD, visit www.avad.com.
